Africast, CT
WEST REGION NEWS

The draft resolution would give the nearly 15 000-strong peacekeeping force authority to apprehend Taylor "in the event of a return to Liberia".

Taylor was given asylum in Nigeria after giving up the presidency in August 2003.

Richard Grenell, spokesperson for the United States mission, said security council experts would meet on Tuesday to discuss the draft. The US came up with the idea for the resolution about three months ago, but put it aside because it didn't believe it had enough support until now, he said.

Taylor resigned and fled the country as part of a peace deal brokered as rebels besieged the Liberian capital, Monrovia. He was later indicted by the UN-backed war-crimes tribunal for backing Sierra Leone rebels in their insurgency, but Nigeria granted him asylum and has refused to hand him over to the court.

The draft resolution expresses appreciation to Nigeria and its president, Olusegun Obasanjo, "for their contributions to restoring stability in the West African sub-region". It also acknowledges "that Nigeria acted with broad international support when it decided to provide former president Charles Taylor temporary refuge in Nigeria".

But the proposed resolution stresses "that a return to Liberia of former president Taylor, who remains under indictment by the special court for Sierra Leone, would constitute an impediment to stability and a threat to the peace of Liberia and that of the sub-region".

It would therefore expand the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in Liberia to apprehend Taylor "and, without the need for further authorisation or approval of any party, to transfer him or facilitate his transfer to Sierra Leone for prosecution before the special court for Sierra Leone".

The court's chief prosecutor, Desmond De Silva, said the tribunal is pressing Nigeria to hand over Taylor and is searching for rebel leader Johnny Paul Koroma, who was reported to be alive last year.

But even if the tribunal closes, the two men will not escape prosecution if they are found afterwards, De Silva warned.

The tribunal is trying several rebel military commanders on charges stemming from accusations of systematic killings, rapes, enslavement of child soldiers and mutilation with machetes during the vicious 1991to 2002 insurgency in the diamond-rich country.

De Silva said if Taylor is handed over, "there will be a body of evidence that will demonstrate his connection with blood diamonds, and all that entails". He refused to elaborate saying further details would put those people prepared to testify against him "in great danger". - AP